The Reality of War
by irishguy117
Summary: When Nod starts a massive war Orca gunships go from a symbol to angels of death, and must adjust to the grim reality of war. My idea of a different side of the Third Tiberium War from the point of view of an Orca pilot trying to adjust and survive


"Orca gunship rolling in!" called pilot Karen "Starside" Reynolds as she brought her Orca into a firing run on a group of Nod scorpion tanks. Her wingmen followed behind her as they completed a difficult and usually unadvised high speed firing run past the tanks. While the manual generally advised Orcas to take a stationary position and bombard their targets with missiles they chose to employ a firing style more akin to the GDI firehawk. This high speed approach allowed them to use the Orcas high maneuverability and anti missile systems to avoid almost all Nod anti aircraft. The only downside was less time to fire their missiles, and less accuracy, which is why only the most highly skilled pilots even attempt the style. Most pilots manage to hit everything but the target, usually finding some friendly forces as well. The column of tanks was obliterated by their attack, several nearby buildings took damage as well but the lieutenant who called in the strike wasn't complaining. All four Orcas pulled out of their firing run and moved high above the city, looking for their next target. New York City was rapidly turning into a burning wreck, and judging by what little they knew it wasn't alone. Nod forces had appeared out of nowhere and launched a massive assault across all the blue zones, throwing GDI into total disarray. There were GDI forces all over the city but with no coordination, no knowledge of each other's locations and plans. There had clearly been some incidents of friendly fire in the chaos. Nod on the other hand had a detailed plan, and was running good communication. If someone didn't get a full command interface for the city up and running soon this would be a total rout and New York City would be lost.

"Starside, this is Hotdog. Looks like someone is trying to reactivate the local command grid. Sounds like a surviving commander who still has a head on his shoulders. Recommend we provide air support because it looks like Nod has noticed as well." One of her wingmen reported succinctly. She was flight leader, but had all of her attention focused on the battle. Hotdog had been monitoring and waiting for command to send any kind of signal, even incoherent ones that implied someone was trying to get the net working again.

"Agreed. Flight let's move out and provide support. Otherwise New York City is toast." She ordered her flight team. After a moment's thought she called the group of GDI troops below that they had just saved with their air strike "GDI forces we've detected signals implying someone of command level is attempting to reactivate their command linkup. The net was taken down as a priority target by Nod but if we can get it up and running again we can coordinate an effective defense. I'm sending you coordinate now, recommend you move there immediately to provide support." There was a reason she had paused, the group below had a mammoth tank, as well as four predators and four APCs. The latest designs might be primitive in comparison to what they once had but a mammoth is always a mammoth.

"Copy Orca, we're repositioning now. Lieutenant Brace out. " That lieutenant had just made a brave choice. He could see as clear as day that the signal was several blocks away and there were Nod forces everywhere. Not to mention stealth tanks that could ambush them at any turn. He could have chosen to remain at his post until receiving further orders, a not completely illegitimate response. Instead he had chosen to put himself and his troops in danger to win the battle. Apparently GDI courage hadn't withered and died in Nod's absence, no matter how inexperienced they all were.

"Understood. Good luck lieutenant, hope to see you there." She gave one final look to the position they were abandoning and watched as the infantry piled into APCs and some gathered around to walk alongside the Tanks. The Orcas would have a much easier trip. They flew across the city watching Nod and GDI forced fight it out, with every one of the city's civilians right in the middle of it. Most were smart enough to stay in their homes or find shelter. The rest… the rest had tried to escape, and learned what crossfire meant the hard way. The only thing worse than being the target of a mammoth tank is being in between that tank and its target. Eventually they came to Times Square, the location of the coordinates. GDI forces had blocked off the roads with mammoth and predator tanks and had dug themselves in very well. They had built an improvised base over the rubble of destroyed buildings and what open space they could find. One building in particular caught Lieutenant Reynolds's eye, an airpad. This commander was indeed smart; he knew that there were many GDI aircraft in the city that simply needed a place to resupply. They brought their Orcas in to land at the airpad without instruction; the net was still not operational. Immediately after landing the drones began refueling, resupplying and repairing their Orcas. "All right buys stay in your cockpits and stay ready, Nod could be here any second." While she was speaking she noticed a soldier motioning for her to come out of her cockpit.

She nodded and climbed down to meet him, looking around at the destruction as she did so. Times Square was now an outpost sporting a crane, barracks, armory, two airfields and several watchtowers and Guardian cannons. The layout had clearly been set up during the battle, and was surprisingly well made. Lieutenant Reynolds eventually reached the soldier that had called her down and she finally saw the rank insignia on his armor, this was a GDI commander! She fought the instinct to snap to attention, saluting during a battle is prohibited considering Nod's love of assassination. "Sir. Lieutenant Reynolds reporting. We saw what appeared to be an attempt to reactivate the local command net and came here to provide assistance. We have also directed a group of ground troops here as well."

"Very good lieutenant, Thank you for coming. You are quite right we are attempting to get the command net back up and running so we can coordinate our defense." He paused for a moment to let the sounds of battle nearby fill the air, tanks and infantry firing their weapons, explosions everywhere. And the screams of wounded soldiers and civilians with no one to tend to them. "Reynolds I'm going to need you to be my eyes and ears here, we've got a good defense set up but Nod knows we're here, and even with the defenses I was able to set up we're a bit thin on the ground. Even if those reinforcements get here I'm going to need you to give me warning when the enemy arrives, and to help keep them off our backs." He took a look at her uniform and caught his eye on a patch she wore. "You're rated for high speed runs?" when she nodded in reply he said "Excellent. I'd like you to perform as many of those as you feel comfortable with lieutenant. I mean that, I don't need a dead inspirational hero I need an Orca gunship and pilot. Get to it lieutenant looks like you're all fueled up.

"Yes sir." Lieutenant Reynolds rushed back to her Orca eager to get back in the air; the sounds of battle had been getting closer until a minute or so ago when it went silent. Judging by the lack of amazed cheering the nearby GDI forces, they hadn't won. This meant Nod forces were closing in. She made it back into her orca and took off, leading her flight in a search for Nod forces. The search did not take long. "Commander this is Starside, Nod forces located requesting permission to engage."

"Permission denied. Give me a full report on enemy composition and numbers."

"Mostly scorpion tanks and militants dozens of them. A few groups of rocket soldiers and fanatics. There are also several Avatars, three to be exact. Request permission to engage them as priority targets."She hoped the commander would grant permission this time, even without those avatars Nod had them outnumbered 3 to 1 and without Air support this battle was already lost.

"Permission granted Starside, give them hell. We're making progress on getting the net up and running, it should take about ten more minutes. Hold them off that long and we can take back New York City. "

"Understood sir. Ok boys and girls lets go, target avatars as priority, then rocket soldiers and scorpions. We're going in fast so after those targets just try to hit something Nod." After giving those orders she lead her flight in a fast moving attack run on the Nod column from the rear. As they closed in on the Avatars they began firing their missiles when their stealth detection systems alerted them of several stealthed enemies below. "Steal tanks! Evade! Evade!" Lieutenant Reynolds ordered her flight as the stealth tanks began revealing themselves and firing their deadly missile barrages. Fortunately most of them were able to evade the missiles thanks to the advanced warning they had gotten. One of them however had been hit by a missile and vectored off into a skyscraper, killing pilot and copilot instantly. One of her wingmen, Sapphire called out to the other, but realized quickly that he was gone. "Commander this is starside Nod forces had stealth tank support. We managed to destroy one of the avatars but lost an Orca." Lieutenant Reynolds reported professionally. She would manage to hold in her grief until the battle was over.

"Understood Lieutenant, I want you to stay out of range. I managed to locate another flight of Orcas and I'm sending them to you now. Use them in your patrol but do not approach those stealth tanks again. We just need to hold them off on the ground. I've redirected a group of predator tanks to try and sneak around behind the enemy to take out those stealth tanks. Stand by." Lieutenant Reynolds and her flight held position above the Nod column and were still standing by as their new flight joined them. They had lost their flight leader shortly after making contact with the commander so it seemed that she was now officially in command of both flights of Orcas. Eventually they saw the predators ambush the stealth tanks and begin firing. Two predators came out of side streets and alleys on both sides of the street and began using their turrets to destroy the nod tanks. Lieutenant Reynolds had her flight close enough to compromise Nod's stealth abilities but still out of range. Unfortunately they only destroyed five out of the eight stealth tanks before the avatars turned around and began firing on the predators. After two had been destroyed one of the Avatars was suddenly knocked down and destroyed, a barrage of fire quickly downed the other one.

Lieutenant Reynolds Saw a group of GDI forces centered around a single Mammoth advance down the street to finish off the GDI stealth tanks when her radio activated "Lieutenant Brace here Starside, enemy anti air is eliminated your clear for your firing run." Damn she thought, he timed his arrival almost perfectly, seizing the moment to catch Nod completely off guard and he sustained the momentum, moving his force forward to continue firing on the Nod forces. The commander picked up on the opportunity and attacked the Nod column from the front with everything he had. Nod still had an advantage in numbers but they had been completely thrown into disarray and were panicking at suddenly being surrounded. Unfortunately for them Nod's military was largely made up of inexperienced kids who didn't really know what they were getting into. GDI on the other hand was made up of professionals, with training and commanded by experienced leaders. They used that advantage to dismantle the Nod column that was still paralyzed by surprise and panic.

"All right boys and girls prepare for firing runs." Even as she said this she remembered that the other flight was not cleared to perform high risk firing runs, so she revised her orders "Sapphire, Hotdog follow me on my run target enemy anti air, the rest of you begin bombardment once we are clear." At that she took her flight in for many high speed runs, returning to the airfield several times to rearm and then commencing again, until the Nod column had been wiped out. About halfway through the battle the command net came back online, and their commander diverted his attention to the bigger picture, leaving this battle to lieutenants Reynolds and Brace. By the time the column was finally eliminated the street they were on had been bombarded into rubble and wreckage lined the street. Nod had experienced the same problems GDI had in the beginning, total loss of coordination and surprise, but GDI had maintained discipline and held their ground, whereas Nod cohesion had fallen apart. Several times during the battle Nod tanks had destroyed each other with no clear reason why. Looking at that street didn't feel like a victory. It felt like a tragedy, and the beginning of many more. Most of those Nod troops had been inexperienced naïve kids who had no idea what the reality of war was, and unfortunately they had to learn that the hard way. She looked back at the city at large, it was still burning and the battle still raged. This war had only just begun.


End file.
